Chappaqua schools, Pleasantville address (Yonkers, Mount Pleasant: house, neighborhoods, school district)

[SB_NYC]

Hi All,

This forum has been extremely helpful to give us a very good lay of the land in Westchester. We are a family of 4 (with 2 young kids) moving from Manhattan. We are strongly considering a house in the Heritage Court area which is Pleasantville PO but zoned for Chappaqua schools. Apart from paying twice for parking at the Chappaqua train station, are there any other Chappaqua town privileges that we will be missing out on (town pool etc.)? If not much of a practical difference, does it make "optical difference" in terms of not having a Chappaqua address?
Any inputs on that and otherwise will be much appreciated. BTW, our budget is around $1.25MM. Thanks all!

[rubygreta]

There is actually no Town or Village of Chappaqua. Chappaqua is just a mailing address. Most of Chappaqua is located in the Town of New Castle.

Pleasantville is an actual village. However, Heritage Court is outside the Village of Pleasantville and is located in the Town of Mount Pleasant. So you would be a resident of the Town of Mount Pleasant, and pay no taxes to Pleasantville.

I don't know if you can join the Town of New Castle pool as a non-resident. If you can, I assume you would pay a premium.

With respect to having a Pleasantville address as opposed to a Chappaqua address, I would not worry about it. But that's just my opinion.

[john70]

Chappaqua is Hamlet. A Chappaqua address is desirable in terms of property value.

[SB_NYC]

Thanks Rubygreta and John70. To me school and physical location seems to be the most tangible benefits and if I can get a discount on the price upfront because on non-Chappaqua address, probably not a bad deal.

[rubygreta]

Originally Posted by john70

Chappaqua is Hamlet. A Chappaqua address is desirable in terms of property value.

I think it would be difficult to prove that property values in Heritage Court would increase if the post office address changed from Pleasantville to Chappaqua. Pleasantville is a desirable community.

This is not like the premium people pay to live in Yonkers neighborhoods that has a Bronxville or Scarsdale mailing address.

[ebeleye]

Chappaqua resident here. I don't believe there are many practical or optical differences. There are many people in "Chappaqua" who have a Mount Pleasant address and pay Mount Pleasant taxes. Most people utilize school district zoning to define where they live. The schools are the main affiliation people feel and everything else is relatively minor. Presuming you're in Chappaqua schools, I think most people in your neighborhood just tell people they live in Chappaqua. It is not a big deal in any way.

You'd have full access to the Chappaqua Library as it is part of the Westchester Library system.

There is no Town of New Castle Pool. Instead, families join one of four community swim clubs. These are not exclusive clubs, just family swim and tennis associations. They are more expensive than a typical town pool, which is annoying, but they are open to any resident of the broader community. There is no residence requirement (there is a Manhattan family that belongs to our club).

Train station parking may be your only issue to manage. There are a limited number of non-resident parking passes available. If this is important to you, I'd call New Castle (Chappaqua) Town Hall, and ask them the chances of receiving a permit as a non-resident. If you cannot park in Chappaqua, you can then park in Pleasantville or Hawthorne, very doable from Heritage Court. Hope this helps and good luck with the move! You'll like it here!!

[SB_NYC]

Thanks Ebeleye...very helpful. Yes, schools are the key for us and additionally the Heritage court area provides infrastructural amenities which seem hard to find elsewhere in Chappaqua - town sewer, gas, underground utilities etc. Just overall getting a bit queasy on the commute front - I work midtown currently but there is a good chance my office will move downtown. My wife is SAHM which is probably more good than bad given my commute. The town was a bit non-committal on parking.
Having said all that, we couldn't find anything in our budget in Scarsdale etc. which we liked as much.....I guess a classic trade off.
Lastly, could anyone recommend a contractor for some basic cosmetic stuff (upgrading kitchen, ripping carpets etc.)? BTW, I'm assuming the town doesn't get involved in these kind of cosmetic renovations and they don't raise the RE taxes once you do that...right? Thanks all!

[rubygreta]

Originally Posted by SB_NYC

Thanks Ebeleye...very helpful. Yes, schools are the key for us and additionally the Heritage court area provides infrastructural amenities which seem hard to find elsewhere in Chappaqua - town sewer, gas, underground utilities etc.

Smart move. I assume you also get town water.

Having sewer, gas heat, municipal water and underground utilities truly blows away having a well, oil heat, a septic tank, and storm vulnerable above-ground utility lines.

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Originally Posted by SB_NYC

Just overall getting a bit queasy on the commute front - I work midtown currently but there is a good chance my office will move downtown. My wife is SAHM which is probably more good than bad given my commute.

Might you get a better commute from somewhere in NJ? A lot of the NJT lines converge in Secaucus Junction and from there it's 15 minutes to Hoboken and 20 mins to Penn. Or one can take the PATH from Newark. I work in WTC and most of my suburban coworkers live NJ in areas like in South Orange, Westfield, Cranford, Ridgewood and Livingston. They drive to a certain location to catch the train or take the bus.

[SB_NYC]

NJ will probably be better for downtown though I have friends and family in LI which makes NJ less attractive.

Yes, town water as well. Looking at another property closer to the station in Aldridge Rd. Is that part considered relatively less desirable? I just don't want to be the most expensive house on the block. Thanks!